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After posting about Mario Badesculast week, I realized how difficult it can be to hide a really obnoxious pimple. Among the swelling, the redness, and the fact that the makeup just WON’T hold on, concealing a blemish can be a really traumatizing and stressful experience – and stress is the last thing you need when you have a skin issue. I thought I’d do a little how-to on how to cover a pimple without freaking out.

OMG you have a pimple. You have a party to attend! Everyone will see! What do you do now?! DON’T PICK AT IT. I know, the temptation is completely overwhelming, but 9/10 times you are only going to make the situation worse. Just don’t touch it – you’ll spread bacteria.

Take Tylenol, Advil, or Aleve. If your blemish hurts, then this will help with the pain – and, more importantly, it’ll reduce the swelling in the area.

Clean the area with a cotton ball moistened with hydrogen peroxide. It’ll kill the germs on your skin and help dry out the pimple.

Visine - your new partner in crime. (Picture from onlinecouponsavings.com)

Get some Visine – the redness-reducing kind – and a Q-Tip. (You should always have these products on hand – they are insanely versatile and quite inexpensive.) Moisten an end of the Q-Tip with the Visine and hold it to your blemish for a few minutes; it’ll help cut some of the redness.

Get your primer out! I use SmashboxPhoto Finish, but anything with dimethicone listed high in the ingredients will do. (I imagine that you could use Urban DecayPrimer Potion on it and that this would be just as effective.) Apply directly to your pimple and blend it out to the surrounding area. You can use a brush here or not, but you’ll definitely need one for the next step.

This is the most important step. Break out your concealer brush – I recommend one with synthetic fibers and a flat, tapered head. This one from Sephora is a nice option. Dip your brush into a cream concealer that matches your skin perfectly (or do what I do: use the thicker product buildup in the cap of your foundation) and, using a patting/dabbing motion, carefully apply directly to your blemish, blending the color out. When you’re done with this step, your spot should be mostly invisible (look, I’m aware that you know it’s there and are hypersensitive to its presence. By this I mean that the average observer shouldn’t be able to see it). Don’t let your makeup get too cakey! It’s better to do multiple thin layers of a lightweight product than to do only a few with a thick product.

Let the makeup on your skin dry – you can work on other aspects of your makeup, like your eyes, while waiting.

Apply a loose powder to set the concealer using a fluffy brush.

I had a pimple when I wore this makeup. Can you tell where it is?

Depending on where the pimple is, you might want to wear a little bit more blush than usual. If you’re really self-conscious about it, you can always wear more makeup to focus the attention to other areas. For example, if the pimple is on your chin, you could wear a smoky eye. If it’s on your forehead, wear a bright lip.

Go out and have fun! Your pimple doesn’t look that bad, I swear.

That’s all, everyone! Not too difficult and it definitely makes you feel way more at ease with your appearance. Do you have any pimple-hiding tricks? Let me know in the comments.